Abstract
The high consumption of resources in the building industry requires a significant reduction of material in buildings and consequently a reduction of emissions over all phases of the life cycle. This is the aim of the Collaborative Research Centre 1244 Adaptive Skins and Structures for the Built Environment of Tomorrow, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), which addresses research on the development and integration of adaptive systems in building structures and skins. New approaches in building planning are required for the implementation of adaptive buildings. Therefore, a multidisciplinary team from various fields such as architecture, civil and mechanical engineering, and system dynamics is necessary. The environmental impacts of the whole life cycle have to be considered for an integral planning process for adaptive buildings right from the beginning. For the integration of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), four temporal and content-related interfaces were identified in the planning process. Inputs and outputs of the LCA were defined for the relevant planning stages in order to enable the greatest possible benefit for the planners and to minimize the environmental impacts as far as possible. The result of the research work is a methodology that can be used in the future to reduce life cycle-related environmental impacts in the planning process of adaptive buildings (ReAdapt).
Highlights
Driven by environmental concerns, the limitation of resources, and the increase of emissions, the construction industry is currently experiencing innovative change [1]
This article answers the research question on which planning stage and detail level an assessment of life cycle-related environmental impacts with the respective available information is possible
The research aim was the early identification of the potential for the reduction of environmental impacts during the design and planning of an adaptive building
Summary
The limitation of resources, and the increase of emissions, the construction industry is currently experiencing innovative change [1]. The integration of adaptive elements into building structures offers the opportunity to save materials and reduce emissions. Adaptive buildings represent an approach geared to significantly reduce considerable resource requirements of the building industry in all phases of the life cycle, reducing its environmental impact. As a result, induced peak stresses caused by earthquakes or winds can be reduced, oscillations can be damped, and the dimension of structural components can be decreased by homogenizing the load transfer. With the integration of adaptive elements into load-bearing structures and skins, the building is able to react to changes in the environment and on differing user demands [2,3]
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